The present invention relates to card games. Specifically, the present card game is a method of playing a card game between at least one player and a dealer using conventional playing cards in which a subset of a quantity of dealt cards are selected to form a final hand for a player and a dealer.
Casino games include many subsets of games. In one subset, players wager on which of two or more hands will win. For example, Baccarat is a live table game that uses a standard deck of fifty-two playing cards. The object of Baccarat is for a player to successfully wager on which of two hands, designated the Bank hand and the Player hand, is going to win. The player is paid even money for the wager if he or she wagers on the winning hand and loses the wager if he or she selects the losing hand.
Play of Baccarat is commenced after all wagers are made by dealing two cards to the Bank position and two cards are dealt from the shoe to the Player position on the table layout. The cards are turned face up and the values of the Bank hand and the Player hand is determined by summing the face values of the cards in each hand. If the sum of the cards are added together, the total of the hand exceeds nine, then the hand value is determined modulo ten. In other words, all hand values range from a low of zero to a high of nine. For example, a seven and a eight total fifteen, but the hand value is five. An Ace and a nine total ten, but the hand value is zero. Whichever of the Bank hand or the Player hand is closest to a total of nine is the winner.
Depending on the point total of the initial Player hand and the initial Bank hand, one more card may be dealt to either the Player hand, the Bank hand or both. The rules for determining whether a third card is dealt are fixed; that is, there is no discretion for either the Player hand or the Bank hand on whether a third card is dealt.
Rule #1: If the initial two card Player hand has a point total of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, the Player hand draws a third card. If the initial two card Player hand has a point total of 6 or 7, the Player hand stands and does not receive a third card.
Rule #2: If the Player hand stands and does not draw a third card, then the Bank hand follows Rule #1. In other words, if the Player hand has a point total of 6 or 7, the Bank hand draws a third card on a point total of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 and the Bank hand stands on a point total of 6 or 7.
Rule #3: If the Player hand draws a third card, the Bank hand must draw or stand as follows:
At the end of each hand, winning wagers are paid and losing wagers are collected by the house. Any commission due to the house is marked in commission boxes in the center of the table.
One drawback of Baccarat is that the draw rules are fixed. That is, as discussed above, there is no discretion in when a player may draw and when a player may stand. Many players dislike the lack of interactivity in Baccarat.
Additionally, all the wagers of Bacarrat are mutually exclusive. That is, a player only has three mutually exclusive choices: Player, Bank, or Tie. Thus, when one player wagers on Bank and another player wagers on Player, the two players are playing against each other despite the fact that neither has a hand of his or her own.
Another subset of games includes games in which cards dealt to a player are combined into a single player""s hand that is compared to a dealer hand. For example, in Blackjack, each player places a wager. A dealer deals two cards to each player and to himself. The dealer""s cards are dealt with one card face up and the other face down. All players receiving a natural twenty-one or Blackjack, i.e. a total of twenty-one in the initial dealt hand, are immediately rewarded and their cards collected. Typically, Blackjacks are rewarded at greater than even money, such as 2:1 or 3:2.
Each remaining player may opt to hit, i.e. receive one or more additional cards, or stand, i.e. stand on the player""s current hand, with the object being to obtain a hand total closer to twenty-one than the dealer""s hand total. If the player hits and receives a card that causes his hand total to exceed twenty-one, the player busts and the player""s wager is immediately collected and play is terminated as to that player.
A player may also have additional options available depending on the initial hand dealt. If the player receives a pair, i.e. two cards having the same face value, the player may double his wager and split the pair, using each card of the pair as a base for a separate hand. For example, if a player were to be dealt a pair of eights, the player may split the pair by doubling his wager and playing with two hands each having an eight and an additional dealt card.
A player may also have the option to double down. Although the availability of the double down option varies from casino to casino, doubling down allows a player to double the player""s wager in exchange for a single additional card. Frequently, the double down option is only available to players having an initial hand total of ten or eleven.
After all the players have formed a final hand or busted, the dealer reveals the dealer""s hand and forms a final dealer hand by hitting or standing as the house rules dictate. House rules typically require the dealer to hit on any hand total less than sixteen. The dealer resolves wagers by rewarding, typically at even money, all players with a final hand total closer to twenty-one than the dealer""s final hand total. Conversely, wagers are collected from players with a final hand total further from twenty-one than the dealer""s final hand total. If the dealer busts, i.e. has a final hand total exceeding twenty-one, all players who did not bust or receive a Blackjack are rewarded, again, typically at even money. If the player and dealer push, i.e. have the same final hand total, the player""s wager is returned.
Blackjack has its drawbacks, however. Since each player plays his or her own hand, there is no xe2x80x9cteamxe2x80x9d feeling to the game such as that found in other games like Baccarat.
A card game is played between at least one player and a dealer using conventional playing cards. In a first aspect of the present invention, the game begins with the dealer dealing four cards to an initial player hand and four cards to an initial dealer hand. The game may be played where each player wagers on, is dealt, and plays a separate player hand or, in an alternate optional embodiment, where only two hands are dealtxe2x80x94a player hand and a dealer handxe2x80x94and players may select to wager on either hand.
In an optional embodiment, the initial player hand and initial dealer hand are examined. If the initial player hand comprises four of a kind and the initial dealer hand does not comprise a higher ranking four of a kind, the initial player hand is declared a winning hand and play ends with respect to that initial player hand. Similarly, in a further optional embodiment, if the initial dealer hand comprises four of a kind and the initial player hand does not comprise a higher ranking four of a kind, the initial dealer hand is declared a winning hand and play ends with respect to that initial player hand.
If the player hand, and in an optional embodiment the dealer hand, does not have a four of a kind, three cards are selected from the initial player hand to form a final player hand and three cards are selected from the initial dealer hand to form a final dealer hand. The final player hand is compared to the final dealer hand. Optionally, the hand rankings, in descending order are: three of a kind of face cards, pair of face cards with an unmatched face card, three unmatched face cards, and three of a kind of threes, with all other hands assigned the sum of the face values of the cards modulo ten. Optionally, ten-spot cards and face cards have a value of zero when summing the card face values. The final hand with the higher rank is the winning hand.
In a second aspect of the game, two or more range sets are defined. In an optional embodiment, a first range set includes the cards Ace through six inclusive, optionally referred to as a Lo wager, and a second range set includes the cards seven through Queen inclusive, optionally referred to as a Hi wager. Players place a base wager on a player hand or a dealer hand or place a range wager on a selected range set of cards or place both a base wager and a range wager. Play continues similar to a first aspect in that four cards are dealt to an initial player hand and four cards are dealt to an initial dealer hand. One card from among the four cards dealt to the initial dealer hand is designated a range card. The range card serves two separate purposes: first, the range card serves to resolve the range wagers, if any; second, the range card may be used along with any of the other three cards to form the three-card final dealer hand.
Thus, three cards are selected from among the four cards dealt to the initial player hand to form a final player hand and three cards are selected from among the four cards, including the range card, dealt to the initial dealer hand to form a final dealer hand. The final player hand and final dealer hand are compared and the final hand with the higher ranking is declared the winning hand. Optionally, the final hands are ranked in the following descending order: three of a kind of face cards, pair of face cards with an unmatched face card, three unmatched face cards, three of a kind of threes, with all other hands assigned the sum of the face values of the cards modulo ten wherein ten-spot cards and face cards have a value of zero. Any player wagering on the winning hand is rewarded on his or her base wager.
Additionally, it is determined which, if any, of the range sets the range card falls. Any player wagering on the winning range set, that is a range set including the range card, is rewarded on his or her range wager.
In a further optional embodiment of a second aspect of the present invention, prior to forming a final player hand and a final dealer hand, the initial player hand and initial dealer hand may be examined to determine whether either includes four of a kind. In such an optional embodiment, if the initial player hand comprises four of a kind and the initial dealer hand does not comprise a higher ranking four of a kind, the initial player hand being declared a winning hand and play ending with respect to that initial player hand. In a further optional embodiment, if the initial dealer hand comprises four of a kind and the initial player hand does not comprise a higher ranking four of a kind, the initial dealer hand is declared a winning hand and play ends.